8/20/2009 @ 2:00PM

In Depth: America's Most Stressful Cities

To find the most stressful cities, we examined quality of life factors in the country’s 40 largest metropolitan statistical areas, or metros–geographic entities defined by the
U.S. Office of Management and Budget for use by federal agencies in collecting, tabulating and publishing federal statistics. We looked at June 2009 unemployment figures provided by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics and cost of living figures from the Council for Community and Economic Research. We examined median home-price drops from Q1 2008 to Q1 2009 that were provided by the National Association of Realtors. Population density based on 2008 data from the
U.S. Census Bureau and ESRI also factored. Last, we examined the number of sunny and partly sunny days per year, based on 2007 data from the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, as well as air quality figures, based on 2007 data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

4. Cleveland, Ohio

This not-so-sunny city, with only 162 sunny days in 2007, saw an unemployment rate of 10.1% in June. It ranks in the top 10 for both year-over-year median home price drop and population density, at 1,060 people per square mile.

Read on for more lifestyle coverage, including information on the most expensive places for health care and best cities for a housing recovery.